At long last, Central Perk Coffee Company has arrived in New York City. More than three decades after “Friends” premiered, an official ode to the sitcom’s iconic hangout opened in Manhattan on Dec. 12—complete with its famous orange couch.
Created in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, the shop’s logo and decor pay homage to the ’90s hit that made Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry household names. But fans wandering the West Village, where the fictional café was set, won’t find themselves anywhere near the real-life version. Instead, the “Friends legacy”—10 seasons, 236 episodes, and global devotion—has earned the café a prime spot in the city’s glitziest hub: the ground floor of the 20 Times Square building at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue.
“My hope is that it isn’t just a tourist attraction, but that it becomes a go-to place for people to have a great cup of coffee, some great food, and becomes a community gathering place,” Glen Coben, Central Perk’s lead architecture and designer, told Travel + Leisure.
He noted that the team briefly considered the original Moustache Cafe location on Bedford Street in the West Village, but the space was ultimately too small. And with this Times Square address—right across from Olive Garden, catty-corner to the TKTS booth, and framed by diagonal glass windows overlooking the Crossroads of the World—the visibility was impossible to pass up.
The location isn’t the only surprise; the design is, too. “Our design brief was not to recreate the set from 1994, but to imagine what Central Perk would look like in 2025,” said Coben, who also designed celebrity favorite restaurant Carbone in the West Village, as well as New York City’s Edison Ballroom and the Michelin one-key The Adelphi in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The result is a sleeker, more utilitarian space than the cozy café on-screen, yet still warm and welcoming—and fully approved by original show creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, as well as producer Kevin Bright. “What you’re going to see is a design that references the original set and that puts into play little easter eggs that are elements of discovery, some in plain sight and some that are hidden,” Coben explained.
Among the more obvious are the wall-sized black-and-white image of the “Friends” fountain and a framed photo of the original set. Then there are ones that more diehard fans may pick up on, such as the A to Z bookends Chandler bought for Christmas and three pop-art prints by artist Burton Morris, whose artwork was on 130 episodes of the show, including a T-shirt Ross wore. Even the trip to the restroom is filled with layers, as a bronze chicken and duck, just like the ones Joey and Chandler co-parented, point the way to the purple doors that have frames on them, just like in Monica’s apartment.
The “Friends” lingo extends to the menu, with playful drinks like The One with the NYC Matcha and the NY Relaxi Taxi Tall Iced Cooler, along with brews such as Chandler’s Chocolate Cold Foam Latte, the Blended Princess Consuela’s Banana Mocha, and the Oh.My.Gawd! Coldbrew. The star of the food lineup is the “Tribbiani Sandwich,” created by Top Chef and James Beard Award winner Tom Colicchio, piled high with prosciutto, soppressata, capicola, cotto, coppa, and provolone on semolina bread.
And of course, no coffee shop—or homage to a nostalgic TV classic—would be complete without exclusive merch, from mugs and glassware to officially licensed Friends candles and six original coffee blends.
Brian Nevins
“What I what I love that they’ve given us the opportunity to do is to tell these the richness of the story through these materials,” Coben told T+L.
Ironically, New York City wasn’t the first to get a Central Perk Coffee Company location, as the inaugural café opened in Boston at 205 Newbury Street in 2023. When I wandered in during a 2024 visit, I was surprised to find myself the only person snapping photos; most customers were locals simply hanging out, just as the fictional café intended.
It wasn’t my first time on an official orange couch either. I’ve visited previous New York City pop-ups and the replica on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood in Burbank. And long before that, my first job at The WB Television Network placed me just steps from the real “Friends” fountain on the Warner Bros. Studio Ranch, where I sometimes slipped into live tapings after work. These days, the only orange couch left on my list is at The Friends Experience, now open in New York City; Las Vegas; London; and Fortaleza, Brazil.
With my fictional “Friends” woven through most of my life for nearly three decades, this new Times Square opening still feels special. After all, this just might be the best episode yet: The One Where New York City Finally Gets a Central Perk.
